Aksel Kristian Andersen Arstal (25 August 1855 – 28 November 1940) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. He was born in Christiania (Oslo) to city engineer Oluf Martin Andersen and Annette Fredrikke Sontum, and was a brother of pianist

Hildur Andersen Hildur Andersen (25 May 1864 – 20 December 1956) was a Norwegian pianist and music pedagogue. She was born in Christiania to ''stadsingeniør'' Oluf Martin Andersen and Annette Fredrikke Sontum, and was a sister of geographer Aksel Arstal ...

. He graduated as

cand.theol. Candidatus theologiæ (male), Candidata theologiæ (female), abbreviated cand. theol. is an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after a six-year higher education in theology in Iceland, Denmark, and Norway. In Norway, the title has re ...

in 1876 from

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, worked as schoolteacher at various private schools, eventually as

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

teacher at the

Oslo Commerce School Oslo Commerce School (Norwegian language, Norw. ''Oslo Handelsgymnasium'') is a full-time public school in Oslo, Norway, specialising in the teaching of Business school, financial and business management. The school was founded in 1875 as Christi ...

, and lectured in

political geography Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, po ...

at the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. His works on geography include ''Landomrids'' (1886), ''Geografi for Middelskolen'' (1899) and ''Norges økonomiske Geografi'' (1902). He edited ' (1902), a work on parents and children which had a large number of prominent contributors. Arstal edited the first edition of the encyclopedia ''

Oslo byleksikon ''Oslo byleksikon'' ( en, Oslo City Encyclopaedia) is an encyclopaedia on Oslo, Norway's capital city. It has been published in five editions since 1938. The third, fourth and the fifth editions were published in cooperation between the heritage ...

'', which was published in 1938, a work which had taken several years to accomplish. He died in November 1940.

References

1855 births 1940 deaths Norwegian geographers Schoolteachers from Oslo University of Oslo faculty {{norway-bio-stub